What’s this plastic dolphin with slits?
What the Product Is
Dive Sticks are hard-plastic pool toys designed to sink and stand on the pool floor so kids can dive down and retrieve them as a game.
How to Recognize Them (Based on the Photos and Product Description)
These dive sticks are typically:
- Hard plastic, about 7 inches long
- Shaped like worms, fish, and seahorses
- Built with ridges or slotted “spine” sections along the body
- Made to sink upright because of a weighted bottom/tail
Common color combinations described include:
- Worms: green with an orange weighted ball or pink with a yellow weighted ball
- Fish: pink/yellow or green/orange
- Seahorses: yellow with a blue tail or pink with a yellow tail
Markings and packaging details noted:
- “Made in China” printed on some fish and seahorses
- “Sun and Shade” listed on the packages
- Sold in mesh bags labeled “Dive Sticks / Batons de plongée” (often marked 6+)
How They Were Sold
Packaging variations described:
- Two worms per package
- Three fish or three seahorses per package
What They’re Used For
Dive sticks are used for simple pool games that build confidence underwater:
- Throw and retrieve: toss them into the pool and race to collect them
- Dive practice: encourage controlled dives and underwater swimming
- Group games: points for each stick recovered or timed challenges
Why They Became a Safety Concern
The key issue is the way pre-weighted dive sticks can land and remain upright in shallow water.
That design creates a risk that a child could:
- Slip, fall, or land on an upright stick, leading to serious puncture-type injuries
Because of this hazard, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) banned pre-weighted dive sticks in 2001.
Key Safety Takeaways
If you have similar dive toys, practical precautions include:
- Do not use pre-weighted dive sticks in shallow water
- Remove any toys that can stand upright on the pool bottom
- Choose alternatives designed to:
- Lie flat on the pool floor, or
- Use soft, flexible materials with no rigid upright profile
- Maintain close adult supervision during any diving or underwater retrieval games
Who Created Them and When They Appeared
- The product information provided identifies them as mass-produced items with “Made in China” markings, and sold in packaging associated with “Sun and Shade.”
- A specific individual inventor is not identified in the provided materials.
- The clearest historical marker is the regulatory action: pre-weighted dive sticks were sold prior to the CPSC ban in 2001, which effectively defines the era when this design was commonly on the market.
